Lunar Lore

Lunar Lore

Rob Hand said one of the main things that many forget, or never knew, about the Moon and emotions in his book, Planets in Composite, is, “It is often difficult for others to deal with the lunar aspects of one’s being, because the level of intensity of feeling is so basic that they do not fit into the formalized way that people usually relate to each other.”1 In other words, there is a social veneer of “niceness,” or conformity to euphemistic, often illusory, social conventions which most people subscribe to that is essentially false and has nothing to do with one’s true feelings. This lends an aura of comfort to relationships but is a deadening influence in that we suppress what is most real within ourselves in order to “get along” with others. This, we call civilization.

The word, “menses” comes from the Latin word, “month,” which comes from the Anglo Saxon word, “Mona,” from which our familiar word, “Moon,” derives. A “Blue Moon” in which time period we often say many things happen “once in,” occurs infrequently, hence the saying. A Blue Moon occurs about once every two years and results when two Full Moons occur in one month. The rest of the time, there is one Full Moon and one New Moon every month.

I also read somewhere, perhaps in the pages of Dell Horoscope, that a woman tends to menstruate at the phase of the Moon under which she was born, if her cycle is the regular 28 or so days. For example, if a woman’s natal Moon/Sun aspect is a sextile, she will tend to menstruate when the Moon sextiles the Sun, etc.

Every 19 years is called a Metonic Cycle or Cycle of the Golden Numbers, after the ancient Greek astronomer of the 5th century BCE named Meton, who is reputed with first discovering this cycle. Every 19 years, beginning January 1st of the 19th year in question, the Moon’s same degrees, phases and signs reoccur on the exact same day they did 19 years previously. For instance, if the Moon appears in 5 degrees of the sign Cancer on December 26, 2004, and is in its full phase on that date (opposite the Sun in in 5 degrees Capricorn or 4 degrees plus any number of minutes rounded up to the next degree), it will be in exactly that same degree, sign, and phase again on December 26, 2023, and so on.

A strong Moon in the natal horoscope tends to give one a great capacity to endure the many ups and downs that life brings because it helps one to be flexible, to adapt to difficult circumstances, and to conserve one’s energies and resources. Because the Moon rules women, this may be a partial explanation of why women live longer than men on the whole.

Another interesting fact, which is a slight digression, but which seems to have some bearing upon the above statement, I heard from a renowned heart surgeon. He said that when he touched the blood vessels in women’s hearts upon whom he performed open heart surgery, these vessels were always softer to the touch than those of the men he operated on. This seems to demonstrate that women are literally softer-hearted than men, even when they suffer from similar distress.

Police blotters have long testified that on nights of Full Moons that there is an increase in violent crime and doctors attest to increased emergency room rosters at that time of the month. Psychiatrists, as well have noticed more “acting out” and general disturbances on their wards during the Full Moon phase. Finally, in this vein, those who have surgery during Full Moon periods tend to bleed more.

We could very well say that maturity, like menses and childbirth, happen to women. Conversely a man must be made into a man. This seems to coincide with what many astrologers say, which is that one’s natal Moon (major feminine) influence represents what one is and one’s Sun (major masculine) influence represents what one must work to further develop or become.

Further, to submit to menses monthly, in the natural course of life, for some 40 to 50 years (!), gestation, childbirth, and the rigors of nurturing infants and children, are no mean feats at all! These acts undertaken, not passively, but receptively, in an attitude of actively receiving, which is a matter of the quality of consciousness involved, and mediating between the forces of life and death through our bodies, although often taken for granted by Western patriarchal conditioning for many reasons, including because they are “unpaid” and underpaid labor, are some of the most challenging in the world and some of the most sacred. It is given to women to, out of our bodies, literally, out of the very substance of our lives, give form to new creations. This also is a meaning of the Moon — to create and dissolve form on the Earth plane toward and away from what our Suns or individualities are in unmanifest essence, in eternal cycles, also known in metaphysics as “the Great Round” of creating, sustaining for a time, then dissolving, all that is.

Donna Lee is a novice at computer wizardry, but some in her neighborhood have called her “The Cyber Queen!” (She has Uranus [Computers/”Cyber Culture”] in Leo [the sign of royalty] in her first house.) In any case, she’s been studying astrology for over 30 years, as well as all things paranormal, psychological, and metaphysical. She’s especially interested in Greek mythology, dream analysis, the Lost Continent of Atlantis, reincarnation, millennial prophecies, numerology and the psychological theories of Carl Jung. The C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, gave her permission to paraphrase some of Jung’s basic thought in five-minute voice recordings for a metaphysical 900 number hotline she instituted with a partner, Tony Pica, in 1994, and again, with a New York State grant, in 1995. This hotline is no longer extant. She has contributed letters, fillers, and an article to Dell Horoscope magazine, entitled, “Jung’s Personality Types and Astrology.” She is single and lives in Jamaica, New York. The Mountain Astrologer magazine published an article she wrote called, “Saturn and the Shadow,” in their Feb./Mar. 2005 issue. In 2008, she published a book of essays, entitled, Nowheresville, Everywhere, Earth, with which she competed for the Pulitzer Prize (unsuccessfully) in 2009. Buy her book at www.authorhouse.com Contact Donna Lee at avataress@msn.com